March Records

Most pompously egotistical work in all symphonic music is Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life). It not only brassily depicts its hero besting his detractors, but, by quoting snatches from Don Juan, Don Quixote, Death and Transfiguration, etc., announces that the hero is Herr Strauss himself. On sale last fortnight in Manhattan shops was a new recording of Ein Heldenleben, by Artur Rodzinski and the Cleveland Orchestra (Columbia: 10 sides; $5.50). It was well recorded but not the best ever (most sweeping performance is Victor's 1928 version, by Willem Mengelberg). What made news about Rodzinski's Heldenleben was the program leaflet which did not accompany the records--because it was suppressed. Said the leaflet, written by Musico Nicolas Slonimsky:

"Ein Heldenleben is Hitler's favorite work. [It] depicts the life of a Hero grievously misunderstood by his fellow men and his fellow enemies. The Hero is essentially a peace maker but, thanks to the intrigues of the petty objectors . . . he is driven to war. He confounds his enemies on the battle field, and is then free to build a new order in which peace is the only supreme law, after every conscious and unconscious foe has been crushed into the dust. . . ."

When customers complained about this "propaganda," Columbia gathered in every last copy of it. Musico Slonimsky said--believably, since he is a Russian Jew who has been in the U. S. for 18 years--that he was just joking.

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